by M. L. Briers
“That would be wrong,” Natalie teased.
“I promise you if this ever gets out…” Jake warned them.
“Our lips are sealed,” Saffy chuckled again.
“Mine aren’t,” Natalie shot the vampire a taunting look.
“Fine. What do you want?” Jake demanded.
“We seem to have a little problem,” Natalie started to explain the situation when the loud hammering of fists on the front door echoed through the large hallway and into their brains.
“Speaking of which,” Saffy grumbled.
Jake eyed the witches. He’d lived next to shifter land long enough to know the sound of that pounding fist.
“You brought the wolves to my door?” Jake’s eyebrows started a journey up toward his hairline.
Both witches looked contrite. Jake groaned at the sound of the non-stop pounding fists. He’d only wanted a quiet Christmas, not Scrooge MacWolf and two damn witches on his doorstep causing mayhem, and there would be mayhem because when witches and wolves crossed paths, there was nothing but mayhem.
“Open the damn door, or we’ll break it down,” the alpha’s deep voice echoed through the hallway.
“By the hair on my chinny-chin-chin, I won’t let you in,” Jake called out.
If he was going to have to put up with the alpha, then he might as well enjoy the damn ride.
“I like his style,” Natalie chuckled.
“You seem to be forgetting that the wolves have found us,” Saffy said as she turned a glare on her friend.
“And we have a Christmas loving — desperate to keep his secret — vampire to protect us,” Natalie said in triumph.
“Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to be that bloomin’ easy,” Saffy grumbled back.
“What did you do to the Wolves?” Jake demanded as he turned his steely gaze upon the witches, and suddenly they both looked very guilty – guilty enough for him not to believe a word that came from their lips, and to pity the alpha and his pack.
“Would you believe — nothing? Nothing at all?” Natalie offered back with the kind of fake smile that offended him.
If they were going to lie to his face, then they could at least put some conviction behind it and do a much better job.
“Not in a million damn years, and oh look, you don’t have that long. The wolves are at the door.” He wanted details, and he hoped they were juicy. “Tell me exactly what you did.”
“It wasn’t us!” Saffy said.
“Mistaken identity?” Jake shot back with a whole heap of skepticism and a sneer for good measure.
“If only,” Saffy grumbled and looked so damn guilty that he almost spat out a chuckle.
“Open the damn door, vampire!” Doug roared.
“Ticking clock,” Jake informed of them.
“It was the fairies,” Natalie rushed out.
She had absolutely no problem with lying to a vampire that she didn’t even know. Saffy looked nervous.
“The fairies?” Jake shot her a look of disbelief.
“Not exactly,” Saffy said and got an elbow in the ribs her trouble from her friend.
“But the important thing is that it wasn’t us,” Natalie ground out a warning to Saffy. They needed to keep the vampire on side if they hoped to escape their fate, and fate could play dirty.
“Very important,” Saffy agreed.
“Stop yanking my chain,” Jake grumbled.
“I wouldn’t,” Saffy said.
“She would,” Jake tossed up a hand and pointed at Natalie. His eyes took everything in, including the small grimace that flew across Saffy’s face. Guilty — definitely guilty.
“True,” Natalie said. “But on the other hand…”
“You’ve got to the count of five,” Doug warned.
“Here’s the thing — and it’s a big thing – I like my door. It keeps out the wind, and the rain, and the snow — and I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s snowing, and windy. Ergo, I value my doorway more than I value two stray witches.” Jake informed them.
“Fine,” Saffy grumbled. “We’re mates.”
Without saying a word, the vampire turned on his heels and started toward the front door. Saffy panicked and nudged Natalie into action. The witch groaned.
“What are you doing?” Natalie demanded.
“Turning the strays back over to their owners,” Jake tossed back over his shoulder.
“Damn untrustworthy, devious, cowardly vampires,” Natalie grumbled out.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones — but my door stays on its hinges,” Jake tossed back over his shoulder.
“A wall — she said – we’re saved – she said,” Saffy bit out, and Natalie shot her an apologetic look.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~
Jake just wanted it to end. He’d wanted, expected, a nice quiet Christmas, and now he was caught up in the midst of growling shifters, and shrew witches, all arguing over the top of each other in his hallway.
He loathed visitors at the best of times, and these certainly were not the best of times. He felt the urge to headbutt the nearest wall, but it was his wall, and he didn’t want to damage the plaster.
“He has a Christmas tree!” Natalie pointed an accusing finger at the vampire, and all heads turned in his direction.
“It’s not like I have ten decomposing virgin’s in the basement,” Jake offered back in a dry tone.
Everyone went back to arguing amongst themselves again. Jake rolled his eyes to the ceiling and prayed for a Christmas miracle.
The light tap of knuckles against the front door caused Jake to narrow his eyes at the back of the door in contemplation of who else would dare to step up to his house, and he groaned inwardly at yet another unsolicited intrusion as he momentarily reconsidered his position on prayer.
“Expecting someone?” Doug asked.
“Four calling birds to go with my three bad mood wolves and two shrill witches,” Jake tossed back over his shoulder as he stormed toward the front door. He wrenched open the door and took in the sight of the intruder. “Maybe I’ll get a gold ring.”
“Oh crap, vampire!”
A moment later and Jake was flying backward through the air. His arms and legs were outstretched in front of him as if he was reaching for something, but it didn’t help because he came in to land on his backside on the marble floor.
Nobody moved a muscle. And surprisingly, nobody said a word.
~
~
~
Christie was caught between a rock and a hard place. Outside there was a snowstorm with added complications — inside there was a vampire, and she hoped that it was only the one. She chose inside.
If she could kill or incapacitate the vampire, then she had a good chance of making the house a fortress. It was certainly a better deal than turning on her heels and going back into the storm and all that it implied.
She stepped inside, used her magic to slam the door shut behind her and snap the bolts on, and then she focused her attention on the vampire at hand and subduing him.
That was when she noticed the group of people standing off to one side, mouths open, and all of them were gawking at her. She thought the essence of supernatural in the air had only been from the vampire.
How wrong could a girl be?
“What is it with witches?” Doug growled.
“Oh good, shifters,” Christie bit out.
She was both relieved and miffed to find out that it wasn’t just vampires inhabiting the mansion.
“Would you like to rephrase that?” Natalie asked. She folded her arms and offered the alpha the evil eye.
“No, I’m good with it,” Doug shrugged his broad shoulders and offered her a smug look in return.
“Butt-weasel,” she muttered.
“What the heck is a butt-weasel?” Jonathan chuckled.
“Right there,” Natalie opened her arms and motioned towards the alpha like he was a good deal on a used car.
The alpha growled a
ccordingly in return. He didn’t know what a damn butt-weasel was either, but if it had come from the witch’s mouth, then he didn’t want to know.
“Hello?” Jake bit out through clenched teeth as the pain of the witch’s magic held him in place.
“Oh, did you want help with something?” Natalie raised her eyebrows and offered him a smug smile. “Because I seem to remember that we needed help, and what goes around, comes around.”
“You know this one?” Christie directed her attention towards Saffy and Natalie as she pointed at Jake.
“Not me,” Natalie shrugged, washing her hands of the two-faced vampire.
“I do. He’s an — acquaintance,” Saffy said.
“An acquaintance that you knocked on the door of twice today already,” Jake reminded her.
“Can you vouch for him?” Christie almost sighed at the antics of the group. She hadn’t known what to expect from any of them, but she certainly hadn’t expected him.
“Well…” Saffy considered it for a long moment.
“Hello — pain,” Jake bit out.
“Okay, sure,” Saffy shrugged.
Jake grunted when the witch’s magic pulled back from him and set him free. He took in a large breath that he didn’t need to live and shook off the pain.
“Saffy, you are so off my damn my Christmas list,” Jake grumbled as he shot a glare in her direction.
“That’s okay, we’ll just take your tree when we leave,” Saffy assured him with a smile.
“How many trees does one witch need?” Jake asked.
“There was a slight mishap,” Saffy grimaced.
“That’s one way to put it,” Doug growled.
“I didn’t realize that this was an insane asylum,” Christie offered, and all heads turned in her direction again. That was until there was a low, deep, growl that emanated from Rex and echoed through the hallway.
“Down boy,” Jake offered.
“What’s his problem?” Natalie asked.
“Don’t look at me, I’m still getting to grips with my own problem,” Jonathan said.
“Maybe his problem is the same as your problem,” Saffy grimaced as she turned her attention towards Christie.
The newest which pulled her head back and scowled back at her. She didn’t like the sound of that.
“Why are you looking at me?” Christie demanded.
“Just saying,” Saffy shrugged.
“Actually, you’re not saying anything at all,” Christie offered back.
“Did you sniff?” Doug demanded from his brother. Boy, but he really hoped so.
“Maybe, just a little,” Rex grimaced and then rolled his eyes at the sound of the chuckle that came from the alpha.
“Too smart for that, hmm?” Doug chuckled back.
“He isn’t…?” Jonathan added his own taunting chuckles to the mix.
“Oh, but I think he is,” Doug folded his arms across his broad chest, and the smirk on his face grew wider, taunting the beta.
“Does someone want to let me in on the secret?” Christie asked.
“I don’t think it’s a secret,” Saffy warned her on another grimace.
“Well could…?” Christie bit off her words the moment that Rex started toward her.
The witch drew back her head, started to lift her hands, and pulled on her magic for backup.
“I wouldn’t,” Rex growled out the warning.
“We would!” Natalie and Saffy said together. They shot each other looks of glee and then turned their attention back towards the new witch.
“Back off,” Christie warned, taking the witches words to heart.
She was ready to defend herself.
The shifter was a damn big one, and she didn’t like the look in his eye as he stalked towards her. The witches had warned her, and she was more than ready to put the big guy down.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
~
“This should be good,” Natalie giggled as she rubbed her hands together with glee.
Rex was gaining ground on the new witch, and Christie was getting ready to zap him.
“Watch her!” Doug growled at Jonathan as he lifted a hand and pointed towards Natalie.
Rex took his brother’s words to mean the witch that he was approaching and he made a valiant effort to get to her before she zapped him to his knees. Saffy squealed in surprise when Jonathan grabbed hold of her from behind, wrapping his arms around her body and lifting her feet from the floor, and he kept her there in his bear hug embrace, dangling in mid-air.
“Got her!” Jonathan growled out.
“What the…?” Natalie turned to find Saffy looking like something of a child’s ragdoll in the shifter’s arms.
She lifted her hand and pulled on her magic, but before she could go any further and zap the shifter, the alpha wrapped an arm around her and yanked her back against his chest where she suffered the same fate.
“Let me go!” Natalie demanded.
“Put me down!” Saffy bit out as she tried to backheel Jonathan in the shin.
“No,” the alpha growled. “Not until you remove the spell from our noses,” he growled against Natalie’s ear and felt the witch shiver.
“Down!” Saffy demanded.
“Get off me!” Natalie tried to shuck him off.
“No.” Doug growled.
“Yes!” Natalie bit out.
“Spell – now!” The alpha growled.
“Kiss my…” Natalie bit out.
“I’m warning you, witch!” Doug growled long and hard.
Christie watched in amazement at the goings-on. She thought she’d walked into an insane asylum before — now — she was certain of it.
Rex took advantage of the fact that Christie’s attention was elsewhere. Her magic had waned, and he moved fast and made a grasp for Christie’s arm, locking his fingers around it, and yanking her toward him.
“Remove the damn spell,” Doug growled again.
“Fine!” Natalie ground out between clenched teeth as she lifted her hand and snapped her fingers.
Doug took great pleasure in sucking up in the scent in the air — his eyes widened — he grumbled a growl — then he dropped the witch that he was holding to her feet, snapped his head around to look at Jonathan with a death glare, and growled long and hard in a warning to his brother.
“Drop my mate before I drop you,” Doug growled.
It had only just registered on Jonathan’s brain that the witch that he was holding was not his mate. He opened his arms and dropped Saffy like a ton of bricks.
She squealed as she lost her footing and ended up on her backside on the floor. Doug growled harder.
“My bad!” Jonathan said as he took a few steps back away from the witch and held up his hands in surrender.
His brother looked fit to kill.
“Muppet!” Saffy grumbled.
Doug stalked towards his mate. A heartbeat later and he’d reached down and scooped her up from the floor.
Her loud shrew-like squeal hurt his ears, but it was worth it because he finally knew which mate was his and he had her within his arms.
“Yes he is — and oh, lucky me,” Natalie rolled her eyes at her mate.
“Mine…” Rex growled into the almost silent room and drew everyone’s attention towards him and Christie.
“If you’re not freaking kidding then I hope you set up your last will and testament because trust me, I am nobody’s damn mate,” Christie ground out as her eyes flashed with mistrust.
“Oh, this is fun!” Jake chuckled.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the vampire. He tossed his hands up at his chest and grinned from ear to ear.
“Just saying.” He grinned harder, a sparkle of mischief resided in his eyes. “Oh … and a Merry Christmas!”
~
~
~
“I’m not going in there,” Natalie said with a slow shake of her head as she chewed the inside of her mouth, folded her arms, and took the
position of a stubborn mule.
“Yes you are,” the alpha informed her. “After all, this is your mess to clean up.”
“I can’t believe you let the fairies in,” Saffy said, causing Natalie to shoot her a death glare, but Saffy just mocked her silently right back.
“Can’t you?” The acidity in Natalie’s voice made Saffy bite her lip rather than grin from ear to ear.
They’d been conspirators on the faerie ploy, and Natalie had a mind to tell the alpha all about his mate. Especially, if the little witch kept stirring the pot the way that she was doing while acting all sweet and innocent.
“Sweetheart,” Doug turned his attention towards his mate. “I may be an alpha. I may be a shifter — but don’t take it for granted that I’m pig stupid — you’re going in there too.”
“Why me?” Saffy rushed to defend herself. She did not want to go in there with faeries.
“Gee, let me think — who kept us busy while Natalie was letting them in?” The alpha growled.
Saffy didn’t have a comeback line for that. Busted.
“Fine. Throw your mate into the lion’s den and be done with it,” Saffy lifted her chin in defiance and looked anywhere but at the alpha.
Doug felt like a heel. He grimaced at the thought of sending his mate in alone with the faeries.
“Maybe we should go in there with them?” Jonathan said.
“That sounds like a damn fine idea, you go in there with them,” Doug tossed back.
He had absolutely no intention of letting Jonathan be the hero in his mate’s eyes. He;d planned to go in all along.
“I said we,” Jonathan offered back.
“Exactly. You and the witches,” Doug folded his arms across his chest and gave his brother a satisfied grin. If the man thought that he could act all high and mighty and put the alpha to shame — he was wrong.
“Well, look at you — running scared of a few faeries,” Saffy tossed the accusation in his direction, and he felt his beast rise within him.
Doug dropped his hands to his sides, and his eyebrows almost met in the middle over his nose. He grumbled a growl as Jonathan chuckle with delight at his expense.
“Maybe, he has some sort of an aversion to fairy dust and glitter?” Natalie chuckled.
